Cerritos College
Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

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Riding the wave of lemonade

Beyonce on stage at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
TNS
Beyonce on stage at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Beyonce threw her ring at the camera, threatening to leave Jay Z.

Her visual album, “Lemonade, ” took the world by storm, leaving fans wondering is she divorcing Jay Z?

Many questioned if she’d ever put together anything other than her previous album “Beyonce,” but it’s safe to say she’s more than out done herself this time.

In the literal sense, her album gave you life.

From the powerful lyrics behind songs like “I Pray You Can’t Catch Me,” “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” “Sandcastles,” and “Freedom,” to the spoken word accompanied with supportive visuals her album has created a non-stop buzz since it aired on April 23.

For example in “Sandcastles,” she says “we built sandcastles that washed away. I made you cry when I walked away.”

A powerful visual aspect that was shown throughout her entire album was black women.

She has been known before to stand in solidarity with embracing her cultural heritage. Back in February, when she performed “Formation” for halftime at the superbowl, she used her platform to pay homage to the Black Panthers.

Even in “Formation” she addresses how she likes her daughter with baby hair and a baby afro, which was one of the ways Black Panthers stood up against racism, by embracing their natural hair.

It may appear that the reason her album has created such a hype, is because she addresses personal issues in her relationship, which has been kept out of the lime light for years.

She talks about changing herself for her husband, and being the “perfect woman,” to find out that he’s cheating on her.

In her album, she creates a storyline that builds up to her anger and hurt.

But, what most fans have neglected to understand is that she’s also forgiven him for his indecrestions and moved on from it.

Her album is a looking glass into her life, and it has so many different aspects regarding the subject of the song and the musical style of the song.

In the album, “Lemonade,” she uses her country roots to make her own country song.

She also, has the mothers of slain black victims such as, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and Mike Brown, make a cameo in her visual album.

In the song “Forward,” you can see the mothers holding picture frames of their sons with sorrow on their faces. Mike Brown’s mother even tries to hold back from crying on camera.

Her album can be recognized as a masterpiece for the simple fact that she doesn’t hold anything back, but also because she address the issue of racism and continues to take a stand for freedom.

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About the Contributor
Briana Hicks
Briana Hicks, Staff Writer
If you want to get an idea of who I am, look at some of my stories. You can find out a little bit about me in my the way I write. Growing into the role of a college student, I'm beginning to find out who I am in this life. Back when I first began coming to Cerritos, I never would've imagined that I'd find my connection to the school on the college newspaper. Let alone, find people who actually understand me as well as I understand them. My path in life is unfolding itself before, and I am so excited to see where it takes me.
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Riding the wave of lemonade